LFW Fashion International SS14

With a backstage pass to this year’s London Fashion Week Fashion International opening show, I had the chance to see the organisation of the big night, take pictures of the show-stopping catwalk, get exclusive interviews with the designers and meet a few celebrities!Held at the Charing Cross Hotel on Friday 13th September 2013 was the opening show for Fashion International organised by show producer Geoff Cox. Rather than arriving fashionably late in true diva style, the models maintained professionalism by arriving on time and getting straight into fittings.

While some of the designers worked with the models to fit them into the outfits for the show, other models enjoyed the luxury of having their hair and makeup done by Anna Orkiszewska and her team, and their nails painted with gellux by Bellissima Gels based in Tamworth.

I spoke with the opening show designer Wajahat Mirza about his collection Exotica inspired by exotic birds. When asked what inspired him about the exotic birds, Wajahat told me ‘I’ve been to a few forests in Africa and then I came across these birds and the colours and combinations of what nature has really amazed me.’ He explained that he used the characteristics, colours and features of these exotic birds in his collection.

Wajahat stated ‘I am really excited to be the first designer to open the show and really look forward to it.’ Inspired by his mother who was a designer and fascinated by how a plain fabric can be turned into a 3-dimensional garment, Wajahat has been in fashion now for 12 years. He has just completed Hyderabad Fashion Week and this is his first appearance at London Fashion Week.

Fashion journalist, turned solicitor, turned fashion designer, Yuvna Kim explains that her journey to becoming a fashion designer has not been easy. Yuvna and her portfolio were rejected numerous times but staying optimistic Yuvna explained ‘it was meant to be that I had to wait. It wasn’t my time to get into fashion school. When I did get in it was the best three years of my life.’

Yuvna’s collection is inspired by the luxurious jewellery of the 1920s, an era known as Art Deco. She has taken the vintage style jewellery, pearls and crystals of the 1920s and replicated these into the materials using fabric manipulation. Summing her collection up as ‘pretty’, I would also add that it is glamorous, elegant, and chic.

Yuvna stated: ‘I can’t believe I’m at London Fashion Week. I can’t believe it’s happening to me 1 year into the business but 9 years after trying. I am so grateful, I feel really humbled and I’m so thankful and proud.’

Other designers of the night included Gianni Lilliu and Dee Duce.

Gianni Lilliu

Dee Duce

And after a fabulous show, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Sinitta!